SDCC 2016: Andy Weir Says "All the Science Is Real" in His Next Space-Bound Novel

After the huge success of The Martian, sci-fi readers (and, eventually, sci-fi moviegoers) have been eagerly anticipating Andy Weir's follow-up to The Martian, which will also take place in space. Weir took the stage at San Diego Comic Con this afternoon, and he reassured fans that his next book would have the same level of hard science as his bestselling debut.

"It's another all-the-science-is-real type of book," he said in the You Got Science in My Fiction panel.

He also reiterated that it will take place in a city on the moon, which is one of the only things that we knew about the book. But Weir has revealed a couple other tidbits of information, including the fact that the protagonist is a female career criminal:

"The book is another scientifically accurate story," Weir said in April. "The main character is a low-level criminal in a city on the moon. Her challenges are a mix of technical/scientific problems, as well as juggling personal interactions-staying a step ahead of the local police, working with shady and dangerous people to do illegal things."

And regarding that "accurate" science in the book, it will have lots and lots of research backing it up, just as his unusually realistic first novel did. Most of that research will go to the physical challenges of building a city in space, but Weir specified that he also painstakingly researched the social and economic elements (although much of this research may not actually appear in the book).

"I carefully worked out the whole economic system, why this is the most economically feasible way to exist, why it turns a profit, and then I realized that if there's one thing we learned from The Phantom Menace, it's 'do not start a story with a description of supply side economics.'"